Representative Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican and close ally of Donald Trump’s, sparred with ABC News host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday morning about the former president’s recent remarks questioning Vice President Kamala Harris‘ racial identity, which Stephanopoulos referred to as a “slur.”
The interview on ABC News’ This Week comes days after Trump said at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago about Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, “She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a couple of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black.”
Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother, identifies as biracial. She is a graduate of Howard University, one of the largest historically Black colleges in the country.
His remarks have been condemned by many, including White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who during a briefing with reporters said the former president’s questioning of Harris’ racial identity was “repulsive” and “insulting.”
In reference to Trump’s comments, Harris wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “Let me just say: The American people deserve better than Donald Trump‘s divisiveness and disrespect.”
On Saturday, Trump again questioned her racial identity when speaking at a campaign rally in Atlanta.
Throughout the Sunday interview, Stephanopoulos and the Florida congressman repeatedly interrupted each other, at times becoming heated.
When Stephanopoulos first asked why the former president and Donalds keep questioning Harris’ racial identity, Donalds said, “The [Harris] campaign has shifted. They’re talking much more about her father’s heritage and her Black identity. It doesn’t really matter. The [former] president mentioned it.”
Multiple times during the interview Stephanopoulos called out Donalds, saying, “And you just repeated the slur again. If it doesn’t matter, why do you all keep questioning her identity? She has always identified as a Black woman. She is biracial. She has a Jamaican father, an Indian mother, she’s always identified as both. Why are you questioning that?”
Donalds responded: “This is something that’s actually a conversation throughout social media right now. There are a lot of people trying to figure this out. But again, that’s a side issue, not the main issue.”
Stephanopoulos then interjected, “Sir, one second, see you just did it again—Why do you insist on questioning her racial identity?” speaking over Donalds.
“You want to talk or you want me to talk?” Donalds retorted.
“I want you to answer my question,” Stephanopoulos said.
“George, George. Now that you’re done yelling at me, let me answer. He talked about it on the stage yesterday in Atlanta. For what? Two minutes? He spent more than 35, 40 minutes going after her record, talking about how radical of a senator that she was, she was the most liberal senator in the United States. That’s a fact,” Donalds said, who went on to critique the media for liking to “glom on” to the comment and not cover “the litany of failures of Kamala Harris.”
Stephanopoulos then asked, “So questioning somebody’s racial identity for a couple of minutes is OK?”
The congressman responded: “George, Imma tell you again, he brought it up. AP [the Associated Press] is the one that wrote the headline when she first came in to the United States’ Senate…none of this matters to the American people.”
Donalds and Trump both argue that an AP headline from when Harris became a U.S. senator noted her Indian background and not her Black heritage. She was the first Indian American U.S. senator, which is why the headline was titled that way. Harris was the second Black woman to serve in the Senate.
“You simply can’t say that it [Trump’s questioning] is wrong,” Stephanopoulos said to Donalds, who deflected and responded, “Now you’re saying AP slurred Kamala Harris because those are the facts.”
Stephanopoulos replied, “The AP did not say that Kamala Harris is not Black. She is biracial. She is Indian. She is Black. You continue to repeat the slur. I don’t understand why you and the [former] president do, but it’s clear you’re not gonna say that’s wrong and you’ve now established that for our audience.”
“Let’s move on,” the congressman said.
Newsweek has reached out to Donalds’ press team and Harris’ campaign for comment via email on Sunday.
